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A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?

Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.

When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

Background Info:

I pre-ordered this book in February of this year because Cassie announced that it would have special runes on the inside of the dust jacket. When I received it around May this year I was speechless – I may’ve cried or screamed that’s in the past now.

The dust jacket (pictured below), has prints of many new runes, most of which were never mentioned in the book which was quite disappointing considering we do not know how they work. For instance; will the Authority rune be drawn on ones body, or be placed upon robes or inanimate objects to publicly display power?

Despite all the confusion, I am still in awe of this dust jacket and its uniqueness, that I am so proud to own a copy. I keep it wrapped around my book as I do not want to ruin it by putting it on display.

Review:

Before I plunged into the 150 pages I had left of Lord Of Shadows, I had a lovely rant to my friend Tracy (after she gave me a tour of her shelves), about how this book will forever be my favourite Cassandra Clare and Shadowhunter novel unless she comes out with a new book that will trump this one.

This novel didn’t just have a captivating storyline, Clare made sure that her readers weren’t able to predict what was around the corner. There was the odd time where the reader could guess a minor happening, but afterwards the twist that came would shock you into submission.

This book dealt with the topic of diversity really well. Not only was diversity shown between the different species present – i.e. fairies, warlocks, Shadowhunters, mundanes, etc. – but the crossbreed (for use of a better word) characters were very much present and shown acceptance by people of the community, may it be a select few. The bisexual and gay characters were ever present in this novel as well as the last with their sexuality being openly displayed, though not questioned or brushed away, rather acknowledged and understood by others. The presence of a transgender character was a welcome shock. A shock as to we as readers would never have suspected that the character would have gone through transition and from what little knowledge I have of transgender people and the process of transition; the way Clare brought up the story and delivered it seemed very real for the character and unforced, which I feel is sometimes the case for writers wanting to add diversity in their novels.

Lets talk about Kit. I absolutely love the kid! The way he observes everything as an outsider gives the reader someone to relate to. It is as if we as readers have eyes inside a real life Shadowhunter institute. His mundane view into shadowhunter culture and way of life gives the mundane readers a view on how they would interpret being a shadowhunter and how we have a more scientific understanding of the human body than they do. Observed through Kit’s eyes, I became mad noticing how under diagnosed Ty was with his Autism and no one knew he was mentally different, rather choosing to ignore it and sheltering him because of the way he translates the world instead of helping him better fit into it. People may say Julian and Livvy knew, but in reality they just thought he was different and sought out to protect him from the world, giving him the resources he had discovered on his own that he needs to survive this world.

So after I managed to finish this book at 1:10am on Sunday 2nd July, I went about sending messages to anyone who would listen.

I very rarely post Instagram stories/ videos on my Bookstagram because I am not very good as saying how I feel without major editing, but after finishing the tortuous Lord Of Shadows, my first thought was that everyone must know about this pain I’m feeling. My raw emotion and the shock and disbelief I felt on my face needed to be verbalised. As it was.

I sent messages to my Paperback Rep – Tracy – who was also staying up to read Clockwork Princess and wanted me to tell her how Lord of Shadows went. I won’t be spoiling anything for her I promise. She can learn heartbreak on her own.

When you send your boyfriend cute messages 🙂

And of course my boyfriend will be hearing all about it tomorrow as I won’t ever be able to forgive or forget (maybe forgive) what Clare has done.

I very rarely post Instagram stories/ videos on my Bookstagram because I am not very good as saying how I feel without major editing, but after finishing the tortuous Lord Of Shadows, I immediately wanted everyone to know how I felt. My raw emotion and the shock and disbelief I felt on my face needed to be verbalised.

Rating:

I obviously, without a doubt, rated this book ★★★★★ (5/5 stars) on Goodreads, or all the stars I can give it!

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Stay Happy, Healthy, and have a Lovely Week!!

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Thank You so much for reading and I hope to see you all back here again Wednesday 🙂

The Girl Behind The Blog

When I’m not going crazy over my Uni work, or watching YouTube videos; you’ll find me lurking in bookstores, talking to myself (no joke I actually do this); or eating. Though not at the same time, because books + food = bad!

I’ve started many projects. Some of which won’t ever be finished. I have journals on top of journals, and unfinished manuscripts that I attend to from time to time. My current project is my book The Inversion, which I spoke about in a blog post a while back!

To find out more about me, you can visit my About mepage where I talk about things I like! You can start a conversation with me on my Instagram too!

P.S. If any of you have seen The Saddle Club, you’d understand the above reference, and even though the show is no more, the theme song never leaves my head!!

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Hi! I'm Brittany, a (recently graduated!) 21 year old History and Sociology student. I can usually be found tucked into a cosy spot with a book, a cup of tea, and maybe a cat or two. @booksteabee on twitter and goodreads